30 Days in Rehab is Not Enough & It’s Killing Some People

Standard, inpatient, drug rehab programs last 30 days of rehab, or less.

Unfortunately, the time spent in a rehab facility depends on how long an addict’s health insurance will pay for the program. Since most drug addicts rely on Medicaid, they only qualify for less than 30 days of rehab and drug alcohol treatment.

Unfortunately, a 30-day rehab program (or less) is not enough to address the unique and complex needs of drug and alcohol addicts. In fact, addiction experts claim that 30 days in rehab only detoxifies addicts but does nothing to prevent relapse.

Longer Stays in Rehab Essential for Successful Recovery

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, rehabilitation programs consisting of 90 days or more are necessary for increasing the success rates of recovering addicts. Thirty and 60 days rehab programs do not give addiction specialists enough time to teach addicts vital coping and life skills they need to avoid relapse.

In addition, the risk for overdose rises for addicts in short-term rehab due to their tolerance for drugs dropping following detoxification. In other words, if they start using soon after leaving drug rehab, they typically use the same amount of drugs they were using before entering rehab.

The industry success rate for patients who stay in residential rehab for 30 days or less is approximately 10-15%. However, the success rate for people who stay 90 days or more is 60-70%

An article published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that inmates detoxifying in short-term prison programs “are 129 times more likely to die from an overdose during the first two weeks of their release”.

Another study put out by the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse found that length of stay in residential substance abuse treatment “was a major determinant of treatment effectiveness”.

Patients in drug rehab for at least 90 days achieved a nearly 80 percent abstinence rate (no relapse events), about the same for patients remaining in treatment for six months.

The article notes that patients successfully completing drug rehab treatment required at least six months of treatment to achieve sobriety without relapse.

Research further indicates there is indeed a minimum amount of time, (specifically, at least 90 days), patients must spend in a drug rehab program to benefit from the program’s personalized, in-depth services.

In addition, studies have found “windows of time” during which patients are most likely to drop out of a program. For example, addicts in IOPs (intensive outpatient programs involve five to seven days of counseling) are at risk for dropping out between weeks four and six while patients in outpatient programs (two or three days of counseling per week) tend to drop out between week two and four.

Relapse Prevention – Extended Drug Rehab Programs

For people to successfully complete a drug rehabilitation program and avoid relapse, they must be helped by counselors to understand the bio psychosocial aspects of the disease of addiction.

Drug rehab patients must master identifying high-risk “trigger” situations and learning to manage these situations by changing self-defeating thinking patterns before they leave their program.

Short-term, 30 days or less, drug rehab simply does not provide enough time for addicts to adjust to detoxification and learn how to live life without using addictive substances.

2 responses to “30 Days in Rehab is Not Enough & It’s Killing Some People”

So if Insurance doesnt pay for a 90day program. Then what do u do. ? I have been putting my son in the same detox -treatment. Center then Sober house. Works for awhile 10mths. Them back where we started

No easy answer, most recovering people have to keep working harder on the program, especially in the first year or two. For most, it takes going to meetings and working the 12 steps. You might want to consider sending to a different program this time?

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Robert M. has been in recovery since 1988. He is a sponsor and loyal member of AA. He has been working in the drug and alcohol field for nearly 20 years. During that time, he has written industry blogs and articles for a variety of industry websites including Transitions, Malibu Horizons, Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches and Lifeskills of Boca Raton.

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